John 3:14

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.

The connection between John 3:14-15 and John 3:13 is in the title "Son of man." John 3:13 gave Jesus' identity as God incarnate, and these cite the necessity for his Passion, his being lifted up on the cross, and through that, lifted up on High.

Moses lifted up the serpent ... refers to the last of Moses' miracles, which took place on the borders of Canaan (Numbers 21:7ff). Fiery serpents had been sent among the people producing suffering and death; Moses fashioned a serpent of brass and lifted it up on a pole in the center of the camp, and all who looked upon it were healed.

Those who would make that brass snake a type of Jesus Christ go much too far. As Clarke noted:

It does not appear that the brazen serpent was ever intended as a type of Christ. It is possible to draw likenesses out of anything; but, in such matters as these, we should take heed that we go no farther than we can say, "Thus it is written."[16]

The usual analogies drawn from the brass snake are these: (1) in each case, those who were benefited could not have been aided any other way; (2) the lifting up in each case was before all Israel, the serpent in the camp, Jesus on the cross; (3) the design in each case was to save life, the serpent physical, the Lord eternal life; (4) the manner of the cure is similar, the Israelites having merely to look on the serpent in order to be cured, and Christians, of course, having to do nothing except believe in order to be saved! Such analogies are not merely untrustworthy; they are fallacious and contradictory to the Sacred Scriptures. There are far more dissimilarities than there are similarities, thus: (1) the brass serpent was of different material from the deadly snakes that were tormenting Israel; but Jesus was made in all points like unto his brethren (Hebrews 2:17); (2) Israel was forbidden to worship the brass snake; but all people are commanded to worship Christ; (3) the brass snake eventually became an idol and was defiled and burned up (2 Kings 18:1,4); (the manner of appropriating the blessing is exceedingly diverse in each case, there having been no moral or spiritual conditions whatever in the healing of snake bites, not even faith). Now, when the Pharisees looked upon Jesus on the cross, were they saved? No! Far more than looking is required for salvation in Christ, as revealed in the next verse. And, as for those who would take this verse as the basis for promising salvation to all who "look upon" Jesus, and then interpret that to mean "faith only," it should be pointed out that Jesus had just revealed to Nicodemus that absolutely nothing short of being born again, born of water and of the Spirit, could suffice for entry into God's kingdom.

Whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life ... The particular construction of these words reveals that eternal life is promised not to "whosoever believeth," but to all believers who are "in him," that is, in Christ. The misconception sometimes substituted for the promise here is that "all believers SHALL be saved, whether or not they are ever baptized into Christ." The key word in this clause is "may." meaning the right or privilege of entering Christ and thus receiving eternal life in him. To be sure, "may" and "shall" are poles apart in meaning. To read that believers "shall be saved" is to read what is nowhere taught in the Bible; but to read that believers "may be saved" is to read the truth of God. The corruption of this text and that of John 3:16 by rendering "shall" instead of "may" or "should" must be rejected. Both here and in John 3:16, the true rendition is "may" or "should" and not in a thousand years "SHALL have eternal life." See Westcott[17] and all of the legitimate versions. When translators take the liberty of rendering "shall have eternal life," as, for example, in the International Version and others, they are not translating God's word at all but perverting it. Let the student of the word of God beware of the hand of Satan in such translations.

[16] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible (London: Mason and Lane, 1837), Vol. V, p. 533.

[17] B. F. Westcott, op. cit., p. 55.